MACK - MY TUESDAY OBSERVATIONS

 

What Needs To Happen for the Mets’ Rotation To Succeed in 2025

https://www.justbaseball.com/mlb/what-needs-happen-mets-rotation-succeed-2025/?s=03

Kodai Senga Needs To Come Back Strong

The first thing that will absolutely need to happen for New York is that Kodai Senga must be healthy and dominant.

As mentioned above, Senga was limited to less than six innings in the 2024 regular season. His two playoff outings were unimpressive, as he gave up a leadoff home run to Kyle Schwarber in Game 1 of the NLDS before allowing three runs in 1 ⅓ innings while distributing four walks in the first game of the NLCS.

Senga broke onto the scene in 2023. With Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander both shipped away at the trade deadline that year, Senga went from the team’s No. 3 starter to being the ace rather quickly, and deservedly so.

As a rookie, he accumulated 4.5 bWAR while holding a 2.98 ERA across 166 ⅓ innings. He struck out 202 batters, which amounted to 10.9 punchouts per nine innings.

Last year was a lost season for the Japanese-born righty, who is entering his age-32 campaign. It is anticipated that Senga will be on an innings limit of sorts in 2025, having thrown less than 20 cumulative innings in the majors last year. He is slated to pitch the Mets’ fifth game of the season, which figures to be on April 1 in Miami.

Once Senga is fully ramped up and back to throwing the way he was two years ago, he is a shoo-in to be manager Carlos Mendoza’s top option, but until then, the Mets rotation will be without a true ace.

 

Who Are the Best Trade Fits for Sandy Alcantara?

https://www.justbaseball.com/mlb/who-are-best-trade-fits-sandy-alcantara-marlins/?s=03

New York Mets

Now, the likelihood the Marlins would want to send another starting arm to a division rival, after already dealing Luzardo to the Philadelphia Phillies this past offseason, might be unlikely.

However, with the way Mets’ owner Steve Cohen has shown his willingness to go the extra mile to make this team the best possible product it can be, we still have to consider them a strong suitor.

From a Mets perspective, Alcantara makes all the sense in the world as well. They have top-end caliber arms in Sean Manaea and Kodai Senga, along with arms that could pleasantly surprise, like Clay Holmes. However, what they lack is an out-and-out ace like Alcantara.

When it comes to a prospective package for the Marlins, the Mets could put together an intriguing one.

They may not have the same amount of prospect capital that other teams already mentioned have. Still, with three Top 100 prospects, two of which are not only Top 50 names but near major league ready in right-hander Brandon Sproat, our No. 31 overall prospect, and shortstop Jett Williams, our No. 43 overall prospect, they may be able to pique Peter Bendix’s interest.

Not to mention, with how active the Mets have been on the free agent and trade markets, there’s a lot of established major league competition in front of those promising youngsters.

Speaking of promising youngsters, the Mets could also include the likes of Luisangel Acuña and, to a lesser extent, Brett Baty, after a great spring, if the Marlins value some more major league-ready talent as add-ons to a deal.

 

Can the Mets’ Francisco Lindor start hot this time? He’s wondering, too

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6241202/2025/03/29/francisco-lindor-mets-offense-astros/

Lindor is not alone in that Mets lineup. Through three games, New York has scored five runs on 11 hits. After Juan Soto doubled off the left-field wall in Saturday’s first inning, the Mets went hitless in their final 26 at-bats against Spencer Arrighetti and the Houston bullpen.

Manager Carlos Mendoza thought his hitters were caught in between against Arrighetti — they were behind his fastball and ahead of his secondary stuff, leading to a bunch of softer contact.

To this point, Soto, Brandon Nimmo and Luis Torrens are the only Mets with multiple hits.

That lack of offense spoiled a terrific series for New York’s pitching staff. The bats scored only five runs, but the arms gave up just six to a Houston lineup that still boasts some pop. In his Mets debut Saturday, Griffin Canning looked sharp, touching 96 with his fastball and leaning heavily on his slider to navigate the Astros lineup.

 

Daniel Wexler                    @WexlerRules

RHP Yuhi Sako joins Brooklyn

 

New York Mets                  @Mets

Outfielder José Azócar has cleared outright waivers and will be assigned to Triple-A Syracuse.

 

Mets Buzz                @MetsWeeklyMedia

Mets Alexander Canario goes unclaimed, sent to AAA!

Outright Jose Azocar

 

Daniel Wexler        @WexlerRules

Syracuse Mets have placed OF Jose Azocar on the reserve list (I'm guessing this is due to travel reasons but we shall see)

            Mack – exactly where this guy is… I have no freaking idea now…

Sliders: Every MLB team’s hidden statistical drought as the 2025 season begins

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6235575/2025/03/28/mlb-drought-teams-sliders-2025/

New York Mets: Most Valuable Player

Last: Never

Francisco Lindor was the MVP runner-up last season, but the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani collected every first-place vote, so there wasn’t much suspense. Even so, Lindor was just the fourth Met to finish second in the MVP race, after Darryl Strawberry in 1988, Keith Hernandez in 1984 and Tom Seaver in 1969. 

Seaver came the closest, matching Willie McCovey in first-place votes but losing on overall points. As for Juan Soto, the new $765 million man is still seeking his first MVP — he placed second to Bryce Harper in 2021 and third behind Aaron Judge and Bobby Witt Jr. last season.

Seven New York Mets minor league arms to watch in 2025

https://www.si.com/mlb/mets/news/seven-new-york-mets-minor-league-arms-to-watch-in-2025

6. Jonathan Pintaro, RHP [No. 24 ranked prospect]

Jonathan Pintaro is a name you might not know yet, but he has been receiving rave reviews all winter from inside and outside the organization. A big, sturdy righty who throws 97-98 mph, both four-seam and two-seam, has a good hard cutter and improving changeup as well as a nasty sweeper. Pintaro was signed out of the Pioneer League by Mets pro scout Jaymie Bane. He is 27-years-old, but his video and data are said to be off the charts.

Pintaro, who pitched multiple innings in the breakout game on Sunday, had an impressive 2.68 ERA across 74 innings (17 appearances, 15 starts) and three levels of the minors last year. He could contribute to the Mets' big-league pitching staff very soon if he performs well to start the campaign.

Medium - The Really Big 2025 Mets Prospects Ranking

https://medium.com/@mdonodeo8/the-really-big-2025-mets-prospects-ranking-5c0fbaaa49f0

 

19) Will Watson

Watson is going to be a common breakout pick among the data-driven types, and it’s easy to see why. He was a late pop-up arm who moved into the USC rotation late in the season before receiving a lot of hype at instructs, and he projects to stay there with a current three pitch mix and decent commands fastball

The current calling card is the fastball. It sat 93–95 as a starter in college and has been up to 97, with a couple more ticks potentially to come if he can fill out his lanky frame. It’s around 16 vert with pro balls from a low-5s release and over six and a half feet of extension, so it should play well up in the zone. His best secondary is currently the changeup, a high spin offering in the upper 80s without a ton of drop but a ton of armside fade. 

It also looks good visually and posted good results in college; I’d call it an average pitch. His last pitch we’ve seen is a slider that got into the mid 80s in his short low-A stint but was usually in the low 80s with short sweep, a shape that doesn’t project to the next level very well. He’s been playing around with a sweeper, so it should be interesting to see how that plays. If that sticks, I would imagine the next addition would be a bridge breaker.

There’s some reliever risk here with his combination of long arm swing and smaller frame — and it makes sense to temper expectations a bit for a seventh round slot value pick — but he exists at the intersection between projectable, model-friendly traits and areas in the profile to clean up that the Mets have been really good at in the last couple of seasons. If you’re looking for the next huge riser in the system, this is a decent bet. Beyond that, this is a fantastic case study for analyzing the changes in the team’s draft philosophy in recent years.